Heartthrob Hash 15th February 2017

Please register at the pavilion at Heston Venue by 6 p.m.

The format of the evening will build on the successful formula used on 10th
February 2016 with a preliminary stretch and warm-up on the grass by the
pavilion. After a gentle jog to the Air Pioneers estate inside the Brabazon
Estate to the south of Cranford Lane we will complete a familiarisation lap.

The main effort of the evening will be an interval training exercise for
teams of two and lasting approx. 20 minutes and so runners should pace
themselves accordingly. The event works best for all concerned if the pairs are
made up of runners (A, B) of similar ability regardless of gender. Runners
wishing to include some steadier marathon training can choose to take a longer
route back to the club afterwards.

The roads (pavements) used for the exercise are shown on the club Google map.
Zoom in to the Heston area. Point X is the junction of Johnson Road and Sopwith Road. Point Y is the
junction of Sopwith Road and Cobham Road.

At the start of the exercise, A runners are at point X and B runners
are at point Y. The aim is for each (relay) team to complete ten clockwise
circuits with handovers (touch of hands, no batons) taking place at points X and
Y.

Runner A runs the first leg from point X via Johnson Road, Bleriot Road
and Cobham Road to point Y. The first leg is approx. 240m. After the handover,
runner B runs the second leg via Cobham Road, Whittle Road and Johnson Road
back to point X. The second leg is approx. 280m. While runner B is running
the second leg, Runner A repositions back to point X along the length (115m)
of Sopwith Road ready for the next handover. After the handover, Runner B
repositions back to point Y.

The pattern is continued until the team has completed four circuits.

Runner B can now walk slowly to point Y as Runner A now runs round to
point Y but instead of handing over, runs another complete circuit (a total
leg of 760m) and then hands over to runner B. Runner A now rests at point
Y while runner B runs round a complete circuit (a total leg of 520m). After
the handover, runner B jogs to point X.

The roles of runners A and B are now reversed with A running from Y
to X and B from X to Y until the team has completed ten complete
circuits ending at point X.

Overall, A and B runners run under pressure for similar distances but the
patterns are subtly different. Something to discuss before agreeing who will
start the team off.

To prevent leading runners and helpers getting cold hanging around too long
on what may be a cool evening, it is suggested that once the leading team has
completed the ten circuits all lapped teams should stop when the A runner next
reaches point X.

Ed: After the event we will be visiting the Queen's Head for
refreshments. The Queen's Head is normally considered easier to find than
any of the points mentioned above.

Surrey League Cross-Countries - Results

The last of this season's league matches took place at Farthing Downs in Coulsdon
on 11th Feb.

The morning outlook wasn't too good with sleet snow promising a muddy course.
The sleet gave way to snow and it was chucking it down as the runners lined up
at the start line.

We had a full team turn up with new member Shelly joining us for the time,
and Mel making a 70-mile round trip just to be with us. That's dedication, thank
you Mel!

Deby led our team home followed by Shelly, Mel, Alice and Helen. The good times
recorded by our ladies put us at 21st out of 34 teams on the day.

Tom was there as usual, with Paul, and it was great to see Roderick who came
after running the Hove parkrun and a ride up the i360!

And what is cross country without a little picnic afterwards, despite the
snow ❄.

Clara Halket (team captain, cheer leader, facilities and
catering)

Roderick adds - The picture above shows the last 800m of the course.
The far right point was a very challenging section, I was surprised not to see
more slipping over, then the course went behind the camera position, from right
to left, then down the hill to the flags where the runners expected the finish
to be. But it wasn't, instead they had to do an additional 400m loop which
whilst looking flat probably wasn't. I overheard many runners cursing the course
setters! It was great to see a full BA team for this event - turning out
for the longest and
most challenging of the season. That must say something about our ladies!

Pos#

Points

Num

Name

Age group

Club

Time

1

1

2354

Rose Penfold

SEN

FUL

0:31:06

46

46

2085

Deby Helsdon

V40

BAW

0:38:34

53

53

2842

Julie Barclay

V50

WOK

0:39:03

87

87

2093

Michelle Garratt

V50

BAW

0:42:46

99

99

2094

Melanie Holman

V40

BAW

0:44:31

124

124

2083

Alice Banks

V60

BAW

0:47:50

145

145

2295

Janet Cunningham

V55

EAL

0:51:26

151

151

2092

Helen Smith

V60

BAW

0:52:53

160

160

...

...

...

...

1:03:53

Left
to right - Helen, Mel, Alice, Deby, Clara and Shelly.

On the day the BA team was 21st of 34 teams. For the season they were 27th out of 42 teams.

And the men (at Lloyd Park)...

Pos#

Points

Num

Name

Age group

Club

Time

1

1

970

Steven Blake

SEN

WOK

28:08:00

36

35

567

Gary Rushmer

V55

BAW

34:56:00

40

39

559

Chris Kelly

V50

BAW

35:15:00

49

46

555

John Taylor

V50

BAW

36:33:00

80

71

550

Matthew Stratful

V40

BAW

40:54:00

83

74

562

Jeremy Short

V55

BAW

41:35:00

90

80

566

Graham Taylor

V55

BAW

42:43:00

112

94

551

Neil Frediani

V60

BAW

50:34:00

114

95

594

unknown athlete

BAW

54:57:00

On the day the BA team was 10th of the ten teams. For the season we finished 8th.

Chris Kelly and Gary Rushmer appear to have finished the season as 1st and 3rd leading
individuals in the 50+ category.

On Wednesday 22nd February we will be holding our annual awards ceremony.
You are very welcome to join us at the Concorde Club (Imperial College Heston
Venue) to celebrate the achievements of club members during 2016.
Who will be the athletes of the year? Who will win the coveted Alamo
trophy?

Come and relive our cross country, parkrun and WARR achievements and more.
Please be there by 8pm. Bring your appetite! Food will be provided!

Steve Hillier obo the whole committee

The next Five Mile Winter Handicap run is from 18:00 before the main event.
All are welcome - even if you haven't run one of these five mile runs yet.

RunTogether initiative with new baRunner club site

"RunTogether" is a new initiative by England Athletics to encourage and
develop new runners. They want affiliated clubs (like us) to provide
welcoming opportunities for new runners to join in and we have decided that we
will give it a go. We have nothing to lose and the payoff for us could be
new runners joining the club - which would not be a bad thing. So we are
currently promoting from April a starter session for the first Wednesday of each
month (this will be the second Wednesday in May to avoid the Speedbird Ladies
race) and the Dream Mile runs. If this is successful we would look to
offer one or more weekly events from July - perhaps a midweek run on
Harmondsworth Moor or at Bedfont Lakes?

The launch website for this initiative is at
https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/baRunner
. Please visit that website and, if you want to, please register for one
or more of the runs - it would be nice to see some apparent demand even if only
from the regulars.

Any thoughts on this or suggestions for additional events that we could
promote - let me know.

The triple whammy of cold weather, school half term and cross country leagues
restricted the parkrun attendance nationwide to just under 90,000 last Saturday.

There was a notable performance by Lesley Chamberlin (23:59, 77.55%) at Bushy
Park, an all time parkrun p.b. for her, ducking under the 24 minute mark at the
154th attempt. John Coffey(26:50) was also at Bushy Park running in his
new age category for the first time while David Barnard (41:30) returned to
Tring again after a gap of over a year for what may turn out to be his last
appearance in that category before moving up another rung.

Jonathan Cox (22:59) was at Crane Park which is fast becoming his new
favourite course to reach the finish line for the 300th time. 200 short of
the next T-shirt but a landmark nevertheless.

Roderick Hoffman (25:45) was right by the seaside at Hove Promenade which no
member had tried out before. Sarah Gordon (41:21) made a first visit to
Bestwood Village (Nottinghamshire). The club total has moved on to 320.

The news has reached us this week that the long awaited Rickmansworth parkrun
will finally get off the ground next month. Once it is established we'll
suggest a week for us to descend on it mob handed and make a bit of a splash...
(and, oh yes, the course is at the Rickmansworth "Aquadrome" and goes round a
lake!).

Shared use of Parks

This says lots of positive things on the value of parks and the need to continue
to make them available to everyone.
parkrun is mentioned, and many
positive things are said, but one can get the impression that parkrunners are a
nuisance - parking inconsiderately and making a mess [in comparison there is no
reference throughout the report of dogs creating any mess]. Sadly some of the
national press have picked up on the idea that parkrun generates litter.
All we can do is continue to do our best to be considerate to other park users
and continue to point out the improvements that parkrun deliver to parkrunners
and the parks themselves - the photo shows a parkrun volunteer clearing
the shingle off Hove Promenade prior to Saturday's parkrun - performing a
service for all citizens of Hove and Brighton.

Parking is becoming a bigger issue as parkruns grow in size. If you
need to drive then please use the recommended parking locations at all parkruns
(even if it costs £££). This is particularly true for Wycombe Rye
where the Lido car parks are now full up by about 8:30. Alternative car parking
can be found at Railway Place and Easton Street car parks, and there is also
parking available at the Council Offices car park on Easton Street.

Roderick Hoffman

Valentines 10k Chessington - 12th Feb 2017

Hi,

Hoping you have thawed out after our BA picnic at Happy Valley during
the freak snow storm.

A small report from the Valentines 10k Chessington on the 12th:

BA had four members running among the 500 plus in this very popular
event. A well organised event with plenty of marshals
A one lap course that takes some planning as the hills are definitely in
the wrong places (as usual), the biggy after 2/3k but being still strong
enough to handle then 1-2 little ones for fun thrown in but then the
killer between 8/9k not a very welcome one - although not to the winner
Scott Overall (0:30:39).

At the 9k mark Paul was 40.26, Ian 40.45, Julie 41.04. I
did not get Janets time as I had moved on.

BA first home was Paul Watt in 45.14. Paul hoping to duck under
45.00 but still very pleased with his performance. Next along was
Ian Cunningham a yearly regular over the course was just seconds behind
Paul in 45.43. Ian when passing Julie Barclay around 7k gave her
encouragement to hang on to him so Julie did her best as asked and
finished 15 sec. adrift in 45.58. Carrying 2/3 niggles she
will now be resting for four weeks with exercises and aqua running only.

Ians wife Janet finished nicely relaxed and managed the hills very
well to finish well under the hour in 57.57.

Tom Rowley

Published results:

Place

Time

Name

Team

Category

Number

Chip Time

Grading

1

0:30:39

Scott Overall

Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC

Senior Men

1

0:30:39

88.00

84

0:45:24

Paul Watt

Woking AC

Veteran Men 50-59

435

0:45:14

67.25

94

0:45:53

Ian Cunningham

British Airways AC

Veteran Men 50-59

94

0:45:43

67.65

98

0:46:09

Julie Barclay

Woking AC

Veteran Women 45-54

20

0:45:58

75.85

283

0:58:34

Janet Cunningham

Epsom Allsorts

Veteran Women 55-64

95

0:57:57

60.94

429

1:33:47

...

...

...

290

1:32:35

47.39

Wokingham Half - 12 Feb 2017

Cool conditions at today's Wokingham Half - alright during - and the wind was
side-on - but cold before and after.

I saw Dave before and after, and saw Ian during, but couldn't catch him.
Colin said Hi, and we had a quick chat on his way past me, and he set off after
Ian. It looks like he chased him down - and it could have been a pretty tight
finish on the Line! Well done fellas!

I I had deliberately chosen the previous day's parkrun to be flat - my Garmin
trail reported an elevation gain of 0m over the 5k distance on Hove Promenade.
The contrast with the Harrow Hill 10k is that it reported a 162m gain. 30m
of that is in the first half mile as you climb half way up the hill. You
then bare left looping down to the bottom again and then climb all the way up -
so this time a 50m climb and you are barely one mile into the run. The
good news is that you then have long downhill stretches to enjoy, though there is a
second lap to come which includes another full climb of the hill. And on
that second lap you also realise how much uphill there is on the flat stretches!

Although about a minute faster than last year my time for the 10k distance is nothing to write home about
- but my Garmin watch did
announce at the end that I'd set PBs during the run - for the 1k and 1mile!
And that despite me having used the watch for the last couple of Dream Mile
runs. Like I say - the downhills can be fun.

Roderick Hoffman

Another week, another Marathon

I spent another day in the wilds of Surrey running the Punchbowl
Marathon for the 5th time on Sunday 12th February. I completed the 31
miles in 7:35 - over an hour slower than the last three years - but then
I was not carrying a half-full S backpack. Weather was cold and grey
with low cloud spoiling the views - but at least it hardly rained. Got a
bit of sand training done as the ground round this part of the world is
very sandy - we were often running on sandy tracks for a kilometre or
more.

Piers Keenleyside

Chichester 10km - Sunday 5th February

This is before the start of the Chichester 10km. I have done this race a
couple of times in the past but they had a new course this year. The start was
at Goodwood Motor circuit. The first 6km was a loop round the villages
surrounding Goodwood and the final 4km was on the motor racing circuit. That
part was pretty windy as was so open. It is a pretty flat course though it is
advertised as undulating. From someone who hates hills, there werent any that
I would call a hill!

The organisers had under-estimated the parking which caused a 30min delay to the
start. Whilst waiting around trying to keep warm, I spotted the BA vest of
Gary! He was with another BA person but I didnt know him [Ed: Presumably Mark
Turner]. I didnt see Gary afterwards. He was probably in his car on the way
home when I finished! My time was 1:08.44.

I would definitely recommend this race but get there early because of the
parking.

Janet Smith

Pos

Bib

Time

Fname

Sname

Club

Gender

Gend_Pos

Class

Class_Pos

Chip_Time

Chip_Pos

189

138

41:17:00

Gary

RUSHMER

British Airways

Male

169

M50-59

12

41:10:00

196

631

2096

50:26:00

Kimberley

TURNER

British Airways

Female

123

F40-49

42

49:53:00

660

716

139

51:54:00

Mark

TURNER

British Airways

Male

567

M50-59

102

51:21:00

752

1592

2252

01:10:32

Janet

SMITH

Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow

Female

624

F50-59

127

01:08:44

161604

Non-Running Shorts

Please be aware that there is a varsity event on Saturday March 4th 2017
and the Heston Venue / Concorde Club & Sports Hall will be closed.
Venessa.